Pirate Brew is a Craft Beer project initiated in 2015 in Berlin by two passionated pirates, Christipa and Andreas. Pirate Brew is about sharing the brewing experience. In the same way, Pirate Brew is about collaborating, brewing in synergy, exchanging experiences in order to make not just a beer, but a beer with its own story and personality. For Pirates, Craft Beer is so much more than just great beer, it’s about enjoying it together, creating good moments and memories.

The first time I tried a Pirate Brew beer was at an annual event called Wurst & Bier here in Berlin. Not only was it good, but it broke all of the rules of traditional German brewing. Like biting into a piece of chili-infused chocolate, Pirate Brew’s chili porter gave me a taste of something that I hadn’t had since moving to Germany. They got my attention.

Having heard about Cristina and Andreas from other beer brewers and enthusiasts around Berlin, I decided that I needed to hunt them down and pick their brains.

The two renegade brewers, also a couple, moved from Valencia to Berlin on little more than a whim. They were after a change of scenery, and with them they brought a love for brewing and drinking craft beer. Their passion quickly began to occupy more and more of their time as they dedicated a corner of their Schöneberg flat into what’s now lovingly known as the “Pirate Bier Winkel”.

The pair have a refreshingly warm quality about them. It’s easy to sit and talk with them about beer—to even joke with them about it. Despite their love and apparent dedication to what they produce, they don’t take themselves too seriously. The entire Pirate Brew endeavor feels like a delicious social experiment—a means for connecting with other craft enthusiasts by collaborating and bonding during the brewing process. “If it were just about the beer then we could sit at home and drink good beer because there’s plenty of it out there.”, but Andreas went on to explain that part of their philosophy is just to have fun. They’ve lost count of how many collaborations they’ve done with other brewers—some larger players and some not.

The pirates have little to complain about when it comes to Berlin’s budding craft beer community, but their desire for collaboration and community support is sometimes met with resistance amongst fellow brewers. “People seem to be a little more competitive here,” Cristina mentions. “Sometimes you ask them what breweries they’re brewing at or who they’re brewing with and they’re really protective of this information—like they don’t want you to come in and take their sources.” But she asserts that this is never their intention: “We’re all on the same team, because at the end of the day we want people to drink craft beer.”.

When I asked Cristina and Andreas what Pirate Brew’s plans were for the future, they didn’t seem terribly pressed to tell me anything concrete. Like many nano breweries, bottling is the next step of production. However, the two mentioned that they aren’t out to take over the world or become the next Brooklyn, New Belgium or Stone. They like the idea of a tap room where people can come together, and of course, be social.